History Management Apparatus, History Management Method And History Management Program

ABSTRACT

A history management apparatus that includes: an acquisition part that acquires a fragment data set indicating an action of a switchboard to a call, and an execution time of the action; a history generation part that generates a historical data set indicating a history of response states of an agent to one call, from a plurality of fragment data sets acquired; an image generation part that generates data of a display image indicating the history of response states of the agent to the one call, based on the historical data set; and a display control part that causes the display image to be displayed on a display unit.

This application is based on and claims the benefit of priority fromJapanese Patent Application No. 2012-180961, filed on 17 Aug. 2012, thecontent of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus, method and program forhistory management of actions on a telephone switchboard.

2. Related Art

Conventionally, in a contact center, each action such as connection,hold and transfer of a line has been executed based on an incoming callfrom a client or an outgoing call from an agent by way of PBX (PrivateBranch eXchange) or CTI (Computer Telephony Integration).

In addition, it has been proposed to manage as statistical informationby associating these actions with an agent who is the source of theoperation (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application,Publication No. 2012-044569).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

However, PBX or CTI records or outputs individual actions as a fragmentof a response at a certain moment of the contact center. In addition,since the operational history of an agent is accumulated as statisticalinformation also by the technology of Japanese Unexamined PatentApplication, Publication No. 2012-044569, these fragments are notassociated, and it has been difficult to understand the sequence ofresponse history relative to one incoming call or outgoing call.

The present invention has an object of providing a history managementapparatus, history management method and history management program thatallow for the history of responses to one call to be easily understood.

The present invention provides the following such solution.

According to a first aspect, a history management apparatus, includes:an acquisition part that acquires a fragment data set indicating anaction of a switchboard to a call, and an execution time of the action;a history generation part that generates a historical data setindicating a history of response states of an agent to one call, from aplurality of fragment data sets acquired by the acquisition part; animage generation part that generates data of a display image indicatingthe history of response states of the agent to the one call, based onthe historical data set; and a display control part that causes thedisplay image to be displayed on a display unit.

According to such a configuration, the history management apparatus candisplay the response history of an agent relative to one call, from aplurality of fragment data sets. Therefore, the operator of the historymanagement apparatus can understand the transition of a series ofresponse operations in a single call, and easily inspect and analyzewhether the response was appropriate. As a result thereof, animprovement in the response quality of an agent is achieved.

According to a second aspect, in the history management apparatus asdescribed in the first aspect, the historical data set includes aduration or number of times of each of the response states.

According to such a configuration, since the historical data includesthe duration or number of times of each response state, the operator ofthe history management apparatus can easily understand the response timefrom incoming response to disconnect, hold time and number of times,transfer number of times, etc. as indices of response quality, forexample, and easily inspect and analyze whether the response wasappropriate. As a result thereof, an improvement in the response qualityof an agent is achieved.

According to a third aspect, in the history management apparatus asdescribed in the second aspect, for one or more calls related to apredetermined agent, respectively, the image generation part generatesdata of a display image in which corresponding history of the responsestates is arranged in a time series according to the duration of each ofthe response states.

According to such a configuration, the history management apparatusperforms timeline display in which the corresponding history of responsestates is arranged in a time series according to the duration of each ofthese response states, for one or more calls related to an agent that isone person, respectively. Therefore, the operator of the historymanagement apparatus can easily understand the duration and transitionof response states, respectively, and easily inspect and analyze whetherthe responses were appropriate in the respective calls. As a resultthereof, an improvement in the response quality of an agent is achieved.

According to a fourth aspect, in the history management apparatus asdescribed in the any one of the first to third aspects, the imagegeneration part generates data of a display image in which a link toaudio recording data recording talking of the agent is associated withthe response state that is corresponding.

According to such a configuration, the history management apparatusdisplays a link to audio recording data recording talking to beassociated with the corresponding response state. Therefore, theoperator of the history management apparatus can confirm the talkingcontents thus recorded along with the operational history of a response,and inspect and analyze whether the response was appropriate in moredetail. As a result thereof, an improvement in the response quality ofan agent is achieved.

According to a fifth aspect, in the history management apparatus asdescribed in the second or third aspect, the image generation partgenerates data of a display image in which the historical data relatedto one or more calls respectively is displayed as a list.

According to such a configuration, the history management apparatuscauses the historical data related to one or more calls, respectively tobe displayed as a list. Therefore, the operator of the historymanagement apparatus can easily understand the response time fromincoming response to disconnect, hold time and number of times, transfernumber of times, etc. as indices of response quality, for example, andeasily inspect and analyze whether the response was appropriate. As aresult thereof, an improvement in the response quality of an agent isachieved.

According to a sixth aspect, the history management apparatus asdescribed in the fifth aspect further includes an extraction unit thataccepts an input of a search criterion, and extracts historical datasatisfying the search criterion, in which the image generation partgenerates data of a display image in which historical data extracted bythe extraction unit is displayed as a list.

According to such a configuration, the history management apparatusextracts and displays historical data satisfying the inputted criterion.Therefore, the operator of the history management apparatus can inspectand analyze the history of response efficiently, by refining the displaytarget among several calls responded by the contact center.

According to a seventh aspect, a history management method executed by acomputer includes the steps of: acquiring a fragment data set indicatingan action of a switchboard to a call, and an execution time of theaction; generating a historical data set indicating a history ofresponse states of an agent to one call, from a plurality of fragmentdata sets acquired in the acquiring step; generating data of a displayimage indicating the history of response states of the agent to the onecall, based on the historical data set; and displaying the display imageon a display unit.

According to such a configuration, the same effects as the first aspectcan be expected by a computer executing the history management method.

According to an eighth aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable mediumencoded with a history management program for enabling a computer toexecute the steps of: acquiring a fragment data set indicating an actionof a switchboard to a call, and an execution time of the action;generating a historical data set indicating a history of response statesof an agent to one call, from a plurality of fragment data sets acquiredin the acquiring step; generating data of a display image indicating thehistory of response states of the agent to the one call, based on thehistorical data set; and displaying the display image on a display unit.

According to such a configuration, the same effects as the first aspectcan be expected by having a computer execute the history managementprogram.

According to the present invention, the history of responses to one callcan be understood easily.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of ahistory management apparatus according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of fragment data according to theembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a portion of historical data according to theembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a first screen according to theembodiment; and

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a second screen according to theembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained.

A history management apparatus 1 according to the present embodimentperforms display control for allowing a manager to understand thehistory of response states of an agent relative to one call (incomingcall or outgoing call) in a contact center.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of thehistory management apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.

The history management apparatus 1 includes a control unit 10, storageunit 20, communication unit 30, input unit 40 and display unit 50. Inaddition, the history management apparatus 1 is connected with PBX 2 andCTI 3 via a predetermined network.

The control unit 10 is a portion controlling the history managementapparatus 1 overall, and cooperates with the above-mentioned hardware torealize various functions of the present embodiment, by reading andexecuting various programs stored in the storage unit 20 as appropriate.The control unit 10 may be a CPU (Central Processing Unit). It should benoted that the functions of each part included in the control unit 10will be described later.

The storage unit 20 is a storage area of various programs for causinghardware groups to function as the history management apparatus 1,various data, etc., and may be a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), flash memory, orthe like. More specifically, a program to be executed in the controlunit 10 for realizing the various functions of the present embodiment(history management program) is stored in the storage unit 20.

In addition, the storage unit 20 includes a history DB 21 that storeshistorical data (described later) generated by the control unit 10.

The communication unit 30 is a network adaptor for a case of the historymanagement apparatus 1 sending and receiving data with anotherapparatus. The communication unit 30 performs data communication withPBX 2 or CTI 3 via the network.

The input unit 40 is an interface accepting the command inputs from anoperator, i.e. manager of a contact center, to the history managementapparatus 1. The input unit 40 is configured from a keyboard, mouse,touch panel, or the like, for example.

The display unit 50 is a display device that displays to the operator ascreen for accepting the input of data, and displays a screen ofprocessing results by the history management apparatus 1, according tothe control of the control unit 10. The display unit 50 may be a displaydevice such as a CRT (Cathode-Ray Tube) display device, LCD (LiquidCrystal Display) device, or the like.

Next, functions of the control unit 10 will be described in detail.

The control unit 10 includes an acquisition part 11, history generationpart 12, extraction part 13, image generation part 14 and displaycontrol part 15. These respective parts are functional blocks realizedby the control unit 10 executing the history management program.

The acquisition part 11 acquires, via the communication unit 30 from PBX2 or CTI 3, fragment data indicating an action of PBX 2 to a call andthe execution time of this action.

The fragment data acquired is data indicating the action performed byPBX 2 or CTI 3 at a certain moment, and a mutual association between aplurality of fragment data sets is not made. More specifically, in thecase of there being a plurality of incoming consecutively to one line ofthe contact center, for example, the fragment data acquired in timeseries from PBX 2 or CTI 3 is not grouped in a unit of incoming, and thedata relating to the plurality of incoming is mixed.

FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of fragment data according to thepresent embodiment.

In this example, the action of PBX 2, incoming number, calling number,and response handling agent are outputted relative to the data and time.In these fragment data sets acquired in time series, the fragment datarelated to a call received from an incoming number “090xxxxxxxx” and thefragment data related to a call received from an incoming number“080xxxxxxxx” are mixed.

The history generation part 12 generates historical data showing thehistory of response states of an agent relative to one call, from theplurality of fragment data sets acquired by the acquisition part 11.

Since history such as the duration and the number of times of eachresponse state, which vary depending on actions of a series relative toone call, are not included in the fragment data sets of FIG. 2, thehistory generation part 12 first sorts the fragment data sets accordingto the incoming number.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a part of historical data generated by thehistory generation part 12 according to the present embodiment.

In this example, the history generation part 12 extracts a series offragment data related to one call starting from incoming, and groupsaccording to identification data and sequence number (No) of the call.

Furthermore, the history generation part 12 calculates the duration,number of times, etc. of each response state, which vary depending onthe series of actions, respectively, based on the fragment data setsgrouped, and stores as a part of the historical data along with theidentification data of the call.

For example, the time from “incoming” until “operator (OP) answer” isstored as “waiting time”. In addition, the total of the times from “holdstart” until “hold end” is stored with the number of times as “holdtime”. Moreover, in the time from “response” until “disconnect” or“transfer end”, the time excluding “hold time” is stored as “callduration”. Additionally, the number of times of “transfer start” isstored.

Furthermore, in a case of an agent performing post-processing such asrecording relating to a call after talking, this post-processing time isaccumulated in CTI 3. This post-processing time is stored as a part ofhistorical data by the history generation part 12, after acquired asfragment data by the acquisition part 11.

The extraction part 13 accepts the input of search criterion forscreening from historical data stored in the history DB 21, and extractshistorical data satisfying this search criterion.

FIG. 4 is a view showing an example of a first screen displayed on thedisplay unit 50 according to the present embodiment.

In this example, a queue selection field 61 indicating a work section inthe contact center, a range input field for a response start time orresponse end time (selection button 62 for response start or responseend, time input field 63, selection button 64 for before or after, andrange input field 65), incoming number selection field 66, and agentselection field 67 are provided as input means of search criteria. Theextraction part 13 extracts historical data satisfying the conditions,when any of these search criteria are designated, and the search button68 is pressed. It should be noted that a receive button 70 will bedescribed later.

The image generation part 14 generates data of a display image showingthe history of response states of an agent to one call, based on thehistorical data extracted by the extraction part 13.

The display control part 15 causes the display image generated by theimage generation part 14 to be displayed on the display unit 50.

More specifically, the image generation part 14 generates data of animage to be displayed in a list display field 69 in the first screenexample shown in FIG. 4, for example.

In this example, among the historical data related to one or more calls,respectively, the waiting time that is the time from incoming untilresponse, the incoming time, the response start time, the response endtime, the call duration, the hold time and number of times holding,transfer destination, post-processing time, and initially respondingagent are list displayed.

Herein, the display contents of the list display field 69 are updated asappropriate in response a predetermined operation of the input unit 40by the operator to the history management apparatus 1, i.e. manager ofthe contact center.

For example, by operating the input unit 40, the manager selects apredetermined one item among the respective items of “waiting time” to“notes” in the list display field 69, and can make a designation to sortthe selected item in ascending order or descending order individually.

In this case, the image generation part 14 sorts the item selected bythe manager in ascending order or descending order according to thisdesignation, and generates data of an image in which the list displayfield 69 has been updated based on the results of this sorting.

In this way, for example, the manager can refine the calls (talking)having a short response time as well handled calls (talking). Then, themanager can enact training of other agents by showing the other agentsthe well handled calls as handling serving as a model (including talkingcontents).

Conversely, the manager can refine calls (talking) with long responsetime as poorly handled talking, for example. Then, the manager inspectsthe contents of the poorly handled call, and can enact training ofagents including the agent who responded to this call, based on theresults of this inspection.

In addition, for example, by operating the input unit 40, the managercan input a phone number (incoming number) of a client that had acomplaint in the incoming number selection field 66 as a criterion, andsearch by pressing the search button 68.

In this case, the extraction part 13 accepts the input of this searchcriterion, and extracts historical data satisfying this searchcriterion. The image generation part 14 generates data of an image inwhich the list display field 69 has been updated, based on thehistorical data extracted by the extraction part 13.

In this way, a manager can easily specify the complaint talking and theagent who handled this complaint talking. In other words, the managercan easily make refinement of the past calls (talking) of clients havingcomplaints, refinement of the handling agents on this occasion, etc.Since the manager can thereby easily confirm the talking contents andspecify the cause bringing about the complaint, it becomes possible toenact prevention of future complaint occurrences.

In addition, for example, by operating the input unit 40, the managercan input desired times, etc. into the range input field of responsestart time or response end time (selection button 62 for response startor response end, time input field 63, selection button 64 of before orafter, and range input field 65) as the search criterion, and search bypressing the search button 68.

In this case, the extraction part 13 accepts the input of this searchcriterion, and extracts historical data satisfying this searchcriterion. The image generation part 14 generates data of an image inwhich the list display field 69 has been updated, based on thehistorical data extracted by the extraction part 13.

In this way, the manager can easily designate a desired time slot, usingthe search criteria of a variation like the response start time and endtime, as well as how many minutes before or how many minutes after thesetimes. More specifically, for example, in the case of a specific call(talking) that is the search target existing, even without knowing theexact time of the start time or end time of the response of thisspecific call, the manager can input an approximate time as the starttime or end time, and easily search for this specific call by simplyinputting the search criteria like setting until around a few minutesthereof as the search range.

In addition, for example, by operating the input unit 40 and pressingthe receive button 70, the manager can select a desired one as a searchcriterion among incoming and outgoing as well as unanswered disconnectof the contact center as display targets of the list display field 69.

In this case, the extraction part 13 accepts the input of this searchcriterion, and extracts historical data satisfying this searchcriterion. The image generation part 14 generates data of an image inwhich the list display field 69 has been updated, based on thehistorical data extracted by the extraction part 13.

Herein, when unanswered disconnect is selected, for example, theextraction part 13 can extract (refine) historical data related tounanswered disconnect for which conventional confirmation has beendifficult, from the log of PBX 2 or CTI 3 (fragment data). Therefore,the manager can easily confirm the number of received cases disconnectedprior to connecting to an agent, time waiting until disconnection, etc.,by viewing the list display field 69 based on this historical data.Then, based on the confirmed information, the manager can enact animprovement such that the contact center becomes a center thatefficiently connects from the viewpoint of the client, by reassessingthe settings of IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and reassessing thenumber of agents.

In addition, for one or more calls related to a predetermined agentselected by the manager, respectively, the image generation part 14generates data of a display image arranging the corresponding history ofresponse states in a time series depending on the duration of theseresponse states, respectively.

Furthermore, in the case of audio recording data recording the talkingcontents of an agent existing, the image generation part 14 generatesdata of a display image associating a link to this audio recording datato the corresponding response state.

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of a second screen displayed on thedisplay unit 50 according to the present embodiment.

The second screen is displayed in a case of a call being selected in thelist display field 69 of the first screen (FIG. 4).

In this example, a selected agent name 71, a display target date 72 ofhistorical data, a display field 73 of a series of actions and times inthe historical data related to a call handled by the selected agent, anincoming number 74 identifying the call, and a timeline display field 75are displayed.

In the timeline display field 75, the durations of each of “waitingcall”, “talking” and “holding” in the historical data related to thecall are color classified, and displayed by graphing on a predeterminedtime axis.

Furthermore, in “talking”, the time slot in which the audio recordingdata exists is displayed color coded as “talking audio recording”. Forexample, in the talking time from “response” 30 seconds after incominguntil “hold start” after about a further 2 minutes, the second half isdistinguished as “talking audio recording”.

In addition, a link 76 to the audio recording data is displayed to beassociated with “talking audio recording”, and the audio recording datais replayed by this link 76 being pressed.

In addition, in the case of a call having been transferred, althoughdisplayed as “talking” or “talking audio recording”, in this case, atransfer destination number 77 is jointly displayed.

It should be noted that, in the case of having been transferred, it maybe configured in a different display form such as color coding normal“talking” and “talking audio recording”.

According to the present embodiment as above, the history managementapparatus 1 can display response history of an agent to one call from aplurality of fragment data sets. Therefore, the manager can understandthe transition of a series of response operations in a single call, andeasily inspect and analyze whether the response was appropriate. As aresult thereof, an improvement in the response quality of an agent isachieved.

In addition, the historical data includes the duration or number oftimes of response states, respectively. Therefore, the manager caneasily understand the response time from incoming response todisconnect, hold time and number of times, transfer number of times,etc. as indices of response quality, for example, and easily inspect andanalyze whether the response was appropriate. As a result thereof, animprovement in the response quality of an agent is achieved.

In addition, the history management apparatus 1 causes historical datato be displayed on a timeline for one or more calls related to an agentthat is one person, respectively. Therefore, the manager can easilyunderstand the duration and transition of response states, respectively,and easily inspect and analyze whether the responses were appropriate inthe respective calls. As a result thereof, an improvement in theresponse quality of an agent is achieved.

At this time, the history management apparatus 1 displays a link toaudio recording data recording talking to be associated with thecorresponding response state. Therefore, the manager can confirm thetalking contents thus recorded along with the operational history of aresponse, and inspect and analyze whether the response was appropriatein more detail. As a result thereof, an improvement in the responsequality of an agent is achieved.

In addition, the history management apparatus 1 causes the historicaldata related to one or more calls to be respectively displayed in alist. Therefore, the manager can easily understand the response timefrom incoming response to disconnect, hold time and number of times,transfer number of times, etc. as indices of response quality, forexample, and easily inspect and analyze whether the response wasappropriate. As a result thereof, an improvement in the response qualityof an agent is achieved.

In addition, the history management apparatus 1 extracts and displayshistorical data satisfying the inputted search criterion. Therefore, themanager can inspect and analyze the history of response efficiently, byrefining the display target among a lot of calls responded by thecontact center.

In addition, as a refined search keys in the first screen (FIG. 4), theselection field 61 to agent selection field 67, and the receive button70 are used. Therefore, a manager or the like can freely input searchcriteria by combining these search keys. In this case, the historymanagement apparatus 1 can change the display contents of the listdisplay field 69 in the first screen (FIG. 4), and transition the screenfrom the first screen (FIG. 4) to the second screen (FIG. 5), inresponse to the search criteria. In other words, for the manager, it ispossible to change the display function of the history managementapparatus 1, by a combination of refined search keys on the screen. Morespecifically, for example, the manager can change the screen display totimeline display (second screen) in which an exchange with an agent isarranged in a time series, by refining by the telephone number of aclient; therefore, it is possible to easily confirm the circumstances ofthis exchange.

Although an embodiment of the present invention has been explainedabove, the present invention is not to be limited to the aforementionedembodiment. In addition, the effects described in the present embodimentare merely exemplifying the most preferred effects arising from thepresent invention, and the effects from the present invention are not tobe limited to those described in the present embodiment.

The items included in the aforementioned historical data are an example,and the items displayed in the first screen (FIG. 4) can be changed asappropriate. For example, the transfer number of times, transfer time,etc. may be calculated and displayed.

In addition, the display mode of the historical data is not limited. Forexample, in the case of transfer having been made a plurality of times,a plurality of transfer destinations may be displayed, and a pluralityof agents may be displayed. In addition, for example, in place of theincoming time, a time until disconnect, starting from incoming,including waiting time, OP answer, talking time+hold time, transfer andtransfer destination talking time may be displayed as the response time.

The combination for refined search keys on the first screen (FIG. 4),and the function corresponding to this combination (display contents)are an example, any number of any types of search keys including thesearch keys illustrated can be employed, and the combination andcorresponding relationship with a function (display contents) may bearbitrary in this case.

The timeline display in the second screen (FIG. 5) is an example, andthe display mode can be changed as appropriate.

For example, the display scale (length of one minute on the screen) anddisplay range are not limited to the example of FIG. 5, and may bevariable. Furthermore, the display control part 15 may accept aninstruction input of magnify/reduce via the input unit 40 to change thedisplay image.

In addition, the historical data of a plurality of calls may bedisplayed simultaneously as a plurality of timelines. In this case, inthe plurality of historical data sets displayed, a series of actions andtimes in a selected historical data set are displayed in the displayfield 73.

In addition, within a region indicating one day or a predetermined timeslot, historical data related to one or a plurality of calls may bedisplayed at the position of a corresponding time.

The history management apparatus 1 may be various information processingdevices (computer) such as server equipment, a PC (Personal Computer) ora tablet terminal, in which each of the aforementioned functions arerealized by software. In the case of being realized by software, theprogram constituting this software is installed in the informationprocessing device. In addition, these programs may be distributed byrecording onto removable media such as CD-ROM, or may be distributed bydownloading to the information processing device via a network.

In addition, the functions of the history management device 1 may bedistributed in part to CTI 3, another server, or the like. In this case,the processing load on the terminal of the manager having a displayfunction is reduced.

What is claimed is:
 1. A history management apparatus, comprising: anacquisition part that acquires a fragment data set indicating an actionof a switchboard to a call, and an execution time of the action; ahistory generation part that generates a historical data set indicatinga history of response states of an agent to one call, from a pluralityof fragment data sets acquired by the acquisition part; an imagegeneration part that generates data of a display image indicating thehistory of response states of the agent to the one call, based on thehistorical data set; and a display control part that causes the displayimage to be displayed on a display unit.
 2. The history managementapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the historical data set includesa duration or number of times of each of the response states.
 3. Thehistory management apparatus according to claim 2, wherein, for one ormore calls related to a predetermined agent, respectively, the imagegeneration part generates data of a display image in which correspondinghistory of the response states is arranged in a time series according tothe duration of each of the response states.
 4. The history managementapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image generation partgenerates data of a display image in which a link to audio recordingdata recording talking of the agent is associated with the responsestate that is corresponding.
 5. The history management apparatusaccording to claim 2, wherein the image generation part generates dataof a display image in which the historical data related to one or morecalls respectively is displayed as a list.
 6. The history managementapparatus according to claim 5, further comprising an extraction unitthat accepts an input of a search criterion, and extracts historicaldata satisfying the search criterion, wherein the image generation partgenerates data of a display image in which historical data extracted bythe extraction unit is displayed as a list.
 7. A history managementmethod executed by a computer, the method comprising the steps of:acquiring a fragment data set indicating an action of a switchboard to acall, and an execution time of the action; generating a historical dataset indicating a history of response states of an agent to one call,from a plurality of fragment data sets acquired in the acquiring step;generating data of a display image indicating the history of responsestates of the agent to the one call, based on the historical data set;and displaying the display image on a display unit.
 8. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium encoded with a history management program forenabling a computer to execute the steps of: acquiring a fragment dataset indicating an action of a switchboard to a call, and an executiontime of the action; generating a historical data set indicating ahistory of response states of an agent to one call, from a plurality offragment data sets acquired in the acquiring step; generating data of adisplay image indicating the history of response states of the agent tothe one call, based on the historical data set; and displaying thedisplay image on a display unit.